Tuesday, November 8, 2011

something out of nothing

Ok, well not really out of nothing. I guess it's more like something made without purchasing anything, but that is far less catchy. Moving on.

I couple weeks ago I found my new favorite blog. This blogger, Kelly, is a stay-at-home mom with five children and they don't have a ton of money or a large home and she seems so practical and down-to-earth. Just my style. There was a really interesting post from this past February where she really wanted to do something crafty but there were no funds in her craft budget. Undeterred, Kelly went on to create something amazing with various odds and end around her home.

Well anyway, at the end of that post she challenged readers to create something without having to buy any supplies. I was really inspired and set off to create my own masterpiece.

My first attempt was shameful, at best. I wanted to make a mini wreath out of a plastic scarf ring (the ones they come on when you buy them) and pieces of an old dishcloth. I saw a picture and had really high hopes. But when my husband saw this work-in-progress he proclaimed that it resembled a kitten's chew toy. Talk about a killjoy, sheesh. But into the trash it went.

I guess I had sort of given up on this creative notion until this past weekend.

A lovely evening spent with the girls and female leaders from my church youth group resulted in three empty hot chocolate tins. I was about to throw them in the recycling bin, but could not bring myself to do it. I am kind of a sucker for things that contain other things. And so I decided these tins would be repurposed.

A couple of brainstorms later and these three cans were on their way to a fantastic makeover.

These are the tins.

I taped off the bottoms to keep the silver edges.

They look like perfect flour and sugar canisters.

I wrapped the canisters in scrap fabric and tied them with brown grosgrain ribbon.

I really love the final product!

So that is my "something from nothing" experience. What can you make out of items you already have at home? Take on the challenge ... it could be fun!